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Tag: NYSC

  • NYSC won’t compromise on election, says DG

    NYSC won’t compromise on election, says DG

    Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawumi has said corps members will not compromise in the August 9 governorship  poll.

    But he warned the participating corps members to conduct themselves within the ambit of the law.

    Olawumi, who spoke during a media chat in Abuja, said: “Corps members have exhibited high sense of duty, commitment and patriotism in their participation in the electoral process.”

    He said the allegations by politicians that the scheme had compromised in its partnership with electoral body to conduct credible election were unfounded and should be taken as political tactics.

    “We have the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) too alleging that all my members of staff in Osun State have been compromised and agitating that I should remove them. You are bound to see thing like this in election.

    “I want to state categorically that we don’t just deploy these corps members for electoral duties, and as far as we are concerned, they are not the alpha and omega as far as conduct of election is concerned; they are just playing a minute role there.

    “It is important to let you know that we don’t just push them out, they conduct a sensitisation training for them and in the cause of that, give them manual. Apart from all these, we let them know that they are all adults and they will be responsible and that they should be ready to face the consequences of whatever action they decide to take why taking part in elections,” he said.

    Olawumi noted that a situation where politicians from the ruling and opposition parties in the state were painting NYSC bad before the electorate was not proper.

    The DG added that such misinformation about the NYSC to the public could breed disaffection, which could make the corps members vulnerable to attack.

    He urged those responsible to desist from such act.

    Olawumi insisted that the policy of the scheme still remains rural posting, stressing that corps members were more desirous and needed in the rural areas than urban centres.

    He explained that corps members had the right to seek relocation based on health, marriage and security grounds, but decried a situation where medical report is forged to seek relocation.

    While disclosing that 96,000 graduates would participate in the 2014 Batch ‘B’ Orientation Exercise coming up on August 5, Olawumi vowed to punish any corps member found with fake medical papers.

    He appealed to both state and local governments, “who have not been consistent in rendering required assistance to the scheme, to brace up and fulfill their obligations.”

  • NBA president must hear this!

    SIR: I humbly wish to draw your attention to the challenges being faced by new wigs/lawyers especially during their service year.  This letter is neither calculated to attract unnecessary attention nor in any manner to expose our noble profession to ridicule. As a matter of fact, I duly and sincerely apologize beforehand if any unexpected event or reaction becomes direct or probable fallout of this letter. I just did not figure how else to bring the instant issues directly to your attention.

    The legal profession is an enviable and respectable profession. In fact, the first set of fields that immediately come to the mind of a layman as to who a professional is, are Law, Medicine and Engineering. If you agree with me that law is as professional a field as the medicine, then you must equally, agree with me that the practitioners of the former profession deserve no less a treatment than the practitioners of the latter. Lawyers and doctors ought to be accorded similar rights and privileges, mutatis mutandis.

    I regret to inform you that this is far from the case as far as the government and NYSC are concerned. Or how else could one explain a situation where there is a huge disparity in the duo’s general welfare; a situation whereby qualified legal practitioners are posted to secondary and primary schools for their primary assignment under the NYSC scheme? How could one explain the reason doctors are accorded preferential treatment in being afforded the time and facilities to practice their profession during NYSC while lawyers are not?

    On postings, it would interest you to know that doctors are strictly posted to hospitals and health institutions for their primary assignment. However, in the case of lawyers, the somewhat fortunate ones are posted to the Ministry of Justice and private law firms (where, more often than not, they are rejected), the rest are shipped off to secondary schools, local governments, the judiciary etc.

    I humbly ask, what are lawyers expected to be doing in furtherance of their skills and profession working in Local Government Areas which are usually over-staffed, or in secondary schools, or in a High Court Library?

    On allowances, the federal government pays Corp members N19,800 monthly. Unlike doctors, who receive as much as N50,000.00 excluding the NYSC allowance, most lawyer/corps members receive only what the federal government pays them and no more. Even the set of lawyers posted to private law firms are either paid paltry sum or are not paid at all.

    I could go on and on and on. I, however, am certain you would not hesitate in verifying the veracity or otherwise of these several claims. I also humbly urge you sir, to liaise with the appropriate authorities with a view to finding immediate and lasting palliatives to these ills bedeviling the legal profession especially as regards NYSC lawyers.

     

    • Mascot Okeke,

    Ado–Ekiti, Ekiti State.

     

  • Ex-Ajaokuta Steel MD is dead

    Ex-Ajaokuta Steel MD is dead

    Former Managing Director of the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited Olufunsho Elewa is dead. He was 63.

    Elewa died on June 6 at the Lagoon Hospital in Lagos after a brief illness.

    He joined the Ajaokuta Steel Company after his national youth service in 1974 and was the Managing Director from 2001 to 2004.

    The late Elewa attended the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, from 1970 to 1973 and graduated with honours in Mechanical Engineering.

    At ABU, Zaria, he distinguished himself as an outstanding scholar and earned a distinction as a Shell Scholar.

    On completion of his national youth service (he was a pioneer NYSC member), the late Elewa was offered employment by the defunct Nigerian Steel Development Authority (NSDA) in 1974 and in 1975 was engaged in an eighteen-month engineering training programme at the Rolling Mills Technology under a training agreement between NSDA and the Bhilal Rourkela Steel Plan in India.

    He completed the programme and returned to Nigeria in 1976.

    In 1980, NSDA metamorphosed into the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and the late Elewa was redeployed to the rolling mills.

    He rose gradually and became the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company in May, 2001. He served in that capacity until October, 2004, when he voluntarily retired from active service.

    The late Elewa was an Honorary Fellow of the Nigerian Metallurgical Society and a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.

    He was the first recipient of the NSE’s Presidential Merit for the Promotion of Engineering Practice in 2001.

    Until his death, he was the Managing Director of Logitrade Engineering Limited, an engineering and consulting firm.

    He was a member of the board of Smace Nigeria Limited.

    Elewa is survived by his wife, Tosan, and children.

     

  • The wrong stipend

    The wrong stipend

    •We should rather pay pensions than open the national purse for unemployed graduates as suggested at the national conference

    If the proposal by the Committee on Law, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Reform at the ongoing National Conference eventually scales through at the plenary, and is finally accepted by the Federal Government, unemployed graduates in the country will start to get allowance like National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members. A member of the committee who craved anonymity said the recommendation is the committee’s way of checking the rising crime wave in the country.

    “The recommendation is our own way of finding solutions to the rising wave of crime in the country and to also force the government to make provisions for the increasing number of unemployed graduates in the country …”  It would also make government realise its obligation to make sure the unemployed get something meaningful. Youth corps members currently get about N19,800 monthly.

    On the face of it, this looks like a good proposal. In the advanced countries, the unemployed, just like the aged, have social welfare schemes that guarantee them something to keep body and soul together pending when they find something to do, to keep them away from crime.

    Youth unemployment, particularly those involving young graduates, has been on the increase in the country and is thus a danger to the larger society. Going by the figures released by finance minister and coordinating minister for the economy, Ngozi Okonjo-iweala in April, there are about 5.3 million unemployed graduates in the country. Of course, a country with such a huge number of unemployed graduates is sitting on a keg of gunpowder.

    Against this background, one would want to commend the national conference committee for this proposal. It would not be a bad idea to ensure that graduates receive at least what they were earning as youth corps members until they are able to secure jobs.  But then, the proposal is fraught with problems, many of which are peculiarly Nigerian. Firstly, there is the issue of corruption to contend with. From experience, it is almost certain that the process will be compromised if it ever takes off.

    We recollect some otherwise laudable schemes in the past that were designed to address poverty in the country. Specifically, we recollect how the Poverty Alleviation Programme and the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) that replaced it were abused and had to be scrapped. We also have the issue of ghost workers that is a recurring decimal in many of our establishments, just as we know the difficulties in pensioners getting their stipend because of corruption.

    Now, how do we eliminate ghost unemployed graduates that must of necessity spring up the moment there is something in it for them? For sure, it will be another avenue for government officials to fleece the country, especially under a government that is making a distinction between stealing and corruption, instead of declaring an all-out war on the cankerworm. By the way, what of the unemployed that are not graduates? Are we saying they do not matter, or that they cannot constitute any threat to the society?

    All these considered make it imperative that there is no alternative or short-cut to solving the graduate unemployment crisis other than by providing a conducive environment for business. We have to fix power, for instance. As a matter of fact, this is germane if we must get out of the unemployment conundrum.

    Even at Okonjo-Iweala’s 5.3 million unemployed graduates, we would require about N105billion monthly to settle people who have skills and can be productive if the environment is good for business. If we refine crude oil locally, for example, we would take some of these people off the unemployment queue instead of providing jobs for people in other economies by importing the commodity.

    We appreciate the concern of the committee members who came up with this proposal but we are also sure it would be another avenue of job for the boys. For now, our emphasis should be on paying pensioners their dues because they cannot work again while the government should concentrate on providing an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

     

  • Temowo is CIIN President

    Temowo is CIIN President

    For the first time, a loss adjuster has been elected president of  the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN). He is Mr. Bola Temowo.

    The Chairman, Bola Temowo Presidential Investiture Committee and Chairman Education Committee, Mr. Eddie Efekoha, made this known at a briefing in Lagos.

    Efekoha, who said the development is good for the industry, noted that the institute belongs to all practitioners.

    He said more practitioners were showing more interest in joining the council of the institute.

    He, however, said the quality of leadership would get better because a loss adjuster was coming on board.

    Temowo was Deputy President and has worked with the outgoing president,  Fatai Lawal.

    Temowo is the Managing Director of International Loss Adjusters Ltd, a leading loss adjusting firm. Earlier, he  worked with Hogg Robinson Nigeria, Crusader Insurance and the defunct ACEN Insurance.

    An indigene of Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, he was born in 1961 in Lagos State to the family of the late Mr. Amos  Temowo and Mrs. Mercy Temowo,  insurance professionals.

    He attended Sacred Heart Private School, Ibadan; St. Patrick’s Grammar School, Ibadan and completed his A’ levels at Igbobi College, Yaba in Lagos in 1979.

    He  studied History at the University of Lagos UNILAG) and graduated in 1982;  and bagged Masters of Public Administration (MPA) two years later from the same university.

    Although he studied History, Temowo’s  ambition was to be like his uncle, Prof. Ade Adefuye, then  a lecture in the Department of History at the UNILAG.

    But fate changed events, when in 1982 the young Bola did his National Youths Service (NYSC) at Hogg Robinson Nigeria, a frontline insurance broking firm. His father had asked him to see Mr. Amos Adeyeye, the helmsman at Hogg Robinson for his national  assignment. The one year experience affected in his career.

    From Hogg Robinson, he moved to Crusader Insurance in 1986 and then felt the urge to become professional by sitting for the Associateship examination of the Chartered Insurance Institute (ACII), London in 1989 and Fellowship of the institute in 1996.

    From Crusader Insurance, he moved to T. A. Braithwaite Insurance Brokers as a Senior Broker in 1990 and later became an Assistant General Manager (AGM).

    He left T. A. Braithwaite in 1992. Temowo attributed the experience he garnered to the trust and the free-hand given to him by the doyen of insurance, Braithwaite to whom, he also owes much of his career.

    From T.A. Braithwaite to ACEN Insurance Ltd in 1992, Temowo’s career  move a meteor, attaining the position of Deputy General Manager before quiting in 1995 to join International Loss Adjusters Ltd on the death of his father.

    Temowo’s watchword is integrity, saying it is a quality he imbibed from his late father.

    Temowo is Vice President, African Region for the International Institute of Loss Adjusters, and a Fellow of the International Federation of Adjusters Association.

    He is married to Sola. They are have two children – Anjolaoluwa and Oluwatooni.

     

  • I am still expecting compensation from NYSC

    I am still expecting compensation from NYSC

    LAST week, I wrote a letter, demanding compensation from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) because of an accident I had during my service year.

    Because of the importance of my case, I expected an immediate response from the NYSC. But I am not disappointed because there was a mistake in my State Code Number and my phone number was not published.

    The correct State Code Number is KT/11A/0050 not KT/11A /5614. My phone number is 08136017492.

     

    Ijegbai Afeikhe,

    Ikhin, Owan East LGA,

    Edo State.

  • D-G NYSC: I need compensation from NYSC

    D-G NYSC: I need compensation from NYSC

    I served as a National Youth Service Corps member in 2011.

    I am from Edo State. I was posted to Katsina State. My State Code Number was KT/IIA/5614.

    During my service year, our allowance was increased from N9,000 to N19,000. But I did not enjoy this increment fully because the NYSC failed to pay me for four months, including the month of my redeployment.

    While I was travelling up and down to get my money, I had a terrible accident. My parents spent a lot of money to take care of me in hospital.

    I need compensation from the NYSC to further take care of myself.

    Ijegbai Afeikhe,

    Edo State.

  • FRSC fights drunk-driving in Anambra

    FRSC fights drunk-driving in Anambra

    For three days Anambra State was abuzz with the campaign to end drunk-driving. Officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) stormed the state with motorbikes and a road-show motorcade, freely handing out leaflets to road users. As the leaflets literally flew around, the officers, using the public address system, consistently appealed to motorists not drive drunk. There was a lot of dance too.

    The mega campaign was sponsored by Guinness Nigeria Limited, while the Anambra Sector Command was chosen to kick-start the event. The target was the Easter celebrations, a time when road crashes tend to increase apparently because of festivity fever.

    Since then, the only phrase that hits motorists’ ears is “Don’t drive drunk”.

    That event was so important that the Corps Commander, Hyginus Omeje, the state sector commander, invited the Zonal Commanding Officer, RS5HQ, Benin, ACM Nseobong C. Akpabio to witness the campaign.

    The mega-campaign which started about 1pm from Aroma Roundabout with Akpabio and Omeje leading over 200 participants, including the sponsors, staff, special marshals, NYSC members and the media.

    They did a 15-kilometer walk from Aroma Roundabout through Amaku General Hospital Gate 1 and 2, Eke Awka Market, Ukwu Orji junction, Nigeria Prisons junction, Amawbia Roundabout (Old Awka-Onitsha road), Nwalusi junction and back to the Sector Command.

    Safety tips fliers, branded T-shirts, branded bottled water cans were distributed to the public.

    At Amawbia Roundabout, the Zonal Commanding Officer ACM Akpabio spoke to Okada riders and drivers of fleet operators on the dangers of drunk driving and equally conducted a breath test for alcohol with the aid of an Aqualizer.

    Addressing the participants at the end of the walk, the Sector Head PE and PROT, ACC Chinelo Ezekwesili appreciated the Zonal Commanding Officer and the sector commander Omeje as well as other participants for the time and effort put to make the Mega Rally a huge success.

    Omeje thanked the Zonal Commanding Officer for initiating the event and bringing sponsors down to hold the first phase in Anambra State. He reiterated the Command’s commitment to duty which has resulted in the Command consistently leading other commands in the Zone for three years running.

    Akpabio appreciated all that participated in the event, adding that the essence of the road show was to enlighten the public on road safety before and during the Easter period. He said the event was timely and a success, judging from the response and turnout.

    He thanked the management of Guinness Nigeria Limited for sponsoring the programme and urged other stakeholders to live up to their civic responsibility of partnering with the Corps to actualise its mandate of eradicating crashes on our roads.

    The Unit Commander RS5.31 Onitsha, ACC Anthony C Metta in his vote of thanks appreciated the Zonal Commander for initiating the project and thanked all that participated but thanked God for the success recorded and prayed for journey mercies to all as they go back to their respective place of abode.

    The FRSC said it would digitalise all its records in 2014 in order to improve its operational and statistical competence.

    Chidoka, FRSC Corps Marshal, who disclosed this to newsmen in Onitsha after delivering road safety leaflets to motorists at the Niger Bridge, noted that very soon record of motorists would follow them anywhere they go in the country since access of each motorist particulars would be a click away through an online data base.

    Chidoka said: “This is an important year for us in FRSC; it is a year of education and enforcement. We are moving our operations from the manual form to the digital form and people’s records would follow them anywhere in the country. I would advise road users to respect road rules and know that whatever offence or offences they commit; it would go along with them.

    “And FRSC is poised to protect the people who obey the rules on the road and punish those who disobey them,” he said.

    The corps marshal also noted that “Peace Ambassadors numbers” were fake, adding, “We have made series of announcement for those who have it to return them and then register their vehicles with the right numbers’’.

    “They are not produced by us and we do not know where they come from,” he stressed.

    Chidoka also said that there had been reduction in road crashes as well as people injured and death resulting from the crashes in the country in 2013 compared with the previous three years.

    “However, we are yet to compile our statistics for the year; but from the day-to-day records; there had been a reduction,” he said.

    He revealed that with the on-going issuance of convoy drivers with the new convey drivers’ licence; the commission would be able to track-down each individual convey driver.

    “And with this, we would be able to punish any of them that goes contrary to the traffic rules and put them in effective check,” he added.

    The leaflets are with the flowing inscriptions: “Mother/Child Safer Awareness”; “Safer Roads, Fuller Lives” and “Avoid Over-loading and Over-Speeding”.

    However, the Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps, Anambra State Command, Hyginus Uche Omeje has lauded the former Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi for his positive relationship and assistance to federal agencies in the state.

    Omeje made this commendation after the former governor presented a Ford Ranger Truck and Chevrolet Life Ambulance vehicles to the FRSC in Awka at the twilight of his administration and called on the incumbent to do more for the FRSC as they are set to give their best to the state.

    The Sector Commander noted that all other federal agencies domiciled in Anambra State like the Army, Police, Civil Defence Corps and the State Security Service   have all received enormous assistance from the Obi administration in the past which have made their operations less cumbersome.

    He noted that the donation to the road safety command will help them in rescuing accident victims in line with latest international standards while they can easily access the nooks and crannies of the state with the vehicles owing to the good network of roads already created in the state by the Obi administration.

    Omeje thanked Obi and Obiano for fulfilling his promises to the command while assuring his continued commitment for the reduction of road crashes in the state.

    Omeje lamented that about 107 people reportedly died in road crashes between December 19 and 23 last year in the country, adding that the World Bank has rated the FRSC, under the leadership of Chidoka, the best in the world.

    He commended the helicopter surveillance of major roads in the country, and his patriotism, dedication and commitment in discharging his duties which all other staff of the corps is emulating.

    Chidoka himself had at one of his visits commended the Head of Department, Special Marshal and Partnership, Victor Nwokolo, Zonal Commanding Officer, Zone 5 Benin, Nseobong Akpabio and Anambra State Sector Commander, Hyginus Omeje among others for their support to him to make his job easier hence available records so far obtained shows that there is a reduction in number of deaths and crashes in 2013 compared to year 2012, hoping there would be greater improvement in 2014.

    The Corps Marshall had attributed the corps success recorded during the yuletide from the heavy duty trucks they received from the world bank , commitment of the officers and synergy between other law  enforcement agents which has ensured the achievement of  President Jonathan’s directive to the command to ensure that road travelers were not unduly delayed.

    Chidoka said no fewer than 1.3 million people die annually through road traffic crashes worldwide.

    He said that unless immediate and effective action is taken, road traffic injuries are to become the fifth leading cause of death in the world resulting in an estimated 2.4 million deaths each year.

    The Corps Marshal called on churches to include Road Safety Enlightenment programmes as part of their worship activities.

    “Road traffic crashes are caused by certain actions we take on our highways and while the church remains prayerful, there is also the need for us to obey traffic rules and regulations.

    “Praying and driving on used tyres (tokunbo) at 130km per hour is like tempting God.

    “We should keep to the speed limit, fasten our seat belt and maintain our vehicles regularly.

    “Let us avoid wrongful and dangerous overtaking, overloading and use of phones while driving” he said.

    In that spirit, the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) Club under Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), distributed fifty (50) helmets free to Okada riders for their safety recently.

    Cadet in Chief FRSC/ NYSC Club Onitsha Unit Command, Corper Ayomide said the aim of the sensitization was to protect the riders head in preventing and reducing head injury in order to save the rider’s life.

     

  • Corps members urged to acquire skill

    Corps members urged to acquire skill

    No fewer than 1500 members of the 2014 Batch “A” of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Cross River State, have held their orientation. The ceremony took place recently at the NYSC permanent orientation camp in Obubra.

    Speaking at the event, Governor Liyel Imoke, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youths and Sports Development, Mr Egwu Egeh, congratulated the corps members, saying the scheme was for promoting inter-cultural integration. He noted that the NYSC had been an integral part of the Nigerian success story. Imoke charged the corps members to disciplined, honest and selfless.

    The Chief Judge of the state, Justice Okoi Itam, who administered the oath on the corps members, graced the ocassion with a team of eight Judges and other members of the state’s judiciary

    Speaking during the ceremony, the NYSC state Coordinator, Engr Nkereke Ibangha, described the corps members as ‘centenary corps members,’ stating that the scheme had adopted a more proactive role towards complimenting government’s drive to create self-reliant youths instead of job seekers through its skill acquisition and entrepreneurial programmes.

    Ibangha gave an insight into the three weeks orientation programme which included lectures on security, culture and traditions of its host communities as well as leadership training and social activities. He added that the activities were aimed at preparing the corps members both physically and mentally for post service life.

    Chairman, NYSC Governing Board Cross River State , Mr Patrick Ugbe, who was represented by the Director of Youth Development , Ministry of Youth and Sports Development , Mr John Kejim, encouraged corps members to distinguish themselves during the service year .

     

     

  • ABC opens office in Ikorodu

    ABC opens office in Ikorodu

    ABC Cargo Express, a division of ABC Transport Plc, has opened an office in Ikorodu, Lagos. It brings to 11 ABC Cargo Express outlets in Lagos.

    The firm will soon take delivery of additional new trucks before the third quarter runs out.

    In addition to strengthening ABC Cargo Express capacity, manpower training and enhancement workshops was organised for cargo staff, supervisors, drivers and attendants.

    The workshops, aimed at imbuing them with the necessary skills to manage modern-day quality service delivery and customer relationship, held in Abuja, Lagos and Owerri.

    Meanwhile, ABC Sprinter Service has begun operations on the Lekki (Lagos) – Owerri and Port Harcourt routes. Designed for passengers who like to travel light, with little or no luggage, ABC Sprinter runs as a direct passenger service daily.

    The firm has announced that National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members are to enjoy N500 discount when they travel with any ABC Coach or Sprinter bus.